Regional economic leaders eye joint efforts

FAYETTEVILLE — Northwest and central Arkansas economic leaders must work together if Arkansas is to compete in a global market, said Elizabeth Small, president and CEO of 50 for the Future, an arm of the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce dedicated to economic growth.

“We are no longer competing with our neighboring states — we are competing with other countries,” Small said.

About 110 businessmen and leaders from central and Northwest Arkansas gathered Thursday night at the University of Arkansas to talk about plans to work together to improve Arkansas’ economy.

Leaders from 50 for the Future and the Northwest Arkansas Council, a private nonprofit organization dedicated to economic development in Benton and Washington counties and surrounding counties, will meet early Friday morning in private work sessions, said NWA Council spokesman Rob Smith. The two areas represent the largest metropolitan areas in Arkansas, according to a Council press release.

Smith and University of Arkansas Chancellor G. David Gearhart, who is the Council’s presiding co-chairman, said the sessions will include discussions on issues like tourism and how to improve education in Arkansas.

Education is essential to building a skilled workforce, Gearhart said, but Arkansas currently lags in the number of people with college degrees, Smith said.

The new collaboration effort between the two regions could lead to better education, which leads to better jobs, Gearhart said.

“It’s all about jobs,” Gearhart said. “Most of the hills that face us can be solved through education. It’s all about an educated workforce.”

Central and Northwest Arkansas competed in the past for companies looking to relocate or expand, but the areas actually attract different kinds of industries, Smith said.

“Little Rock is just very, very different from us,” Smith said.

While Northwest Arkansas has traditionally focused on sectors like retail, food processing and logistics, the Little Rock area has jobs in areas such as aerospace, Smith said. Little Rock is home to public companies like Acxiom and Windstream. Northwest Arkansas is home to Wal-Mart, Tyson Foods and J.B. Hunt.

Access to labor is also different and costs for projects and land vary between the two areas, said keynote speaker Ted Abernathy, Southern Growth Policies Board executive director. The board is a private nonprofit that promotes regional, economic growth in the South.

Gearhart said the idea of “either or” is in the past. The regions need to think in terms of “both.”

“More and more we are realizing our competition is not with each other, but with other regions across the states and around the world,” Gearhart said.

Unlike other regional efforts that include several states, Arkansas has an advantage by creating a smaller-scale regional effort, Abernathy said. Many leaders attending the Thursday event already knew each other, he said.

“Collaboration is about relationships,” Abernathy said.

Those relationships will serve as the foundation for improving the two region’s economy, which will improve the entire state’s economy, leaders said. Abernathy said he saw little to no competition between the rural areas of Arkansas and the urbanized areas for economic growth opportunities, despite a shift in the legislature that, for the first time, means there are more state legislators from urban areas than rural parts of the state.

Combined, Little Rock area and Northwest Arkansas account for about 45% of all 135 state House and Senate seats under the new redistricting lines.

The change isn’t likely to make much difference in the legislature, said Sen. Sue Madison, D-Fayetteville. Little Rock and Northwest Arkansas are often aligned politically, she said.

What benefits the two regions will benefit the rural counties, said Association of Arkansas Counties Executive Director Chris Villines in an e-mail.

“Economic development in our state and region is a partnership that is best executed hand in hand without divisions between counties, cities or regions,” he said.

Villines did not attend Thursday night. Smith said he did not think any county judge attended.

Small said she is excited about the potential for the regions to hash out what they have in common and find new ways to grow Arkansas’ economy. The state is on the cusp of success, she said.

“I believe we are already there, and we don’t even know it,” Small said.